


wild birds are flying around

by greywardenblue



Series: wildfrostflight [1]
Category: Lovestruck - Fandom, Reigning Passions (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, MC has feelings for both Sevastian and Lyris, but not in relationship with either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22023829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywardenblue/pseuds/greywardenblue
Summary: A barmaid and the Silver Dagger have drinks in a tavern then get caught in a blizzard. A Princess of Spring lies in bed with a Prince of Winter and a Courtesan of Spring. A flower plucked from the wilds talks politics with the only people she can trust. It is one busy night.
Relationships: Sevastian/Main Character
Series: wildfrostflight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1596274
Kudos: 13





	wild birds are flying around

“I’m going back to Altadellys,” he said. “But you... you should stay here.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “What?”

When I was still a barmaid, I had a lot of men come in and joke that when a woman says ‘what’, she heard you perfectly - it’s just that she’s giving you the option to change what you said and save your skin. I always frowned at those comments, because I hate when men act like their wives are fire-spitting dragons who are only there to argue and nag them.

But in this particular case, they would have been right about that word.

“Look around. You’ve been happier here tonight than anywhere in the palace. You said it yourself that you love the Wilds.”

Anger rose in my chest, and I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but I stopped. _Not here_. I took his hand and dragged him outside, behind the tavern where we could be alone. 

“I wasn’t happy tonight because we’re in the Wilds,” I hissed at him. I still couldn’t shout, but I didn’t have to shout to show my anger. “I was happy because I was with _you_ , without you being an ass and saying cruel things you don’t mean to push me away.” He opened his mouth to answer, but I didn’t give him the chance. “We could have done that back at your party! But once your potion wears off, it’s like you don’t even _like_ me.”

Back at the Palace, he would have scoffed and told me that I was right - that he said those things because he _didn’t_ like me. He would have said it, and it would have felt like a knife to the chest. But I knew better than to believe him.

I took a step back and crossed my arm. “We’re going back to Altadellys, together. And tomorrow, when you take your mask off and start being a dick again, well-- I’ll go hang out with Lyris and Piama instead, and get them to help me find out who my parents are, and you can brood on your own.”

I had never seen him speechless before, but this time he didn’t say anything. When I turned around and stormed off towards his horse, he followed and helped me up in silence.

\--

 _That was your first mistake_ , he said when I told him I trusted him. A mistake. That’s all this was to him?

I stormed out of his room and my feet carried me without thinking, but not back to my own. I knocked firmly on another door and waited until it opened.

Lyris was wearing what could be very generously described as a nightgown, almost see-through. Despite how revealing his other clothes were, I found myself blushing. Partly to hide my red face, partly to prevent him sending me away, I ducked under his arm and ran into the room. By the time he sleepily turned to catch me, I was throwing myself down on his bed and groaning into his pillow.

After half a minute or so, I heard him sigh and felt the bed move as he leaned back next to me.

“Guy troubles?” he asked.

“More like one guy who’s nothing but trouble,” I said. “Or two guys. I’m honestly not sure anymore.”

“Well, go on, then. The sooner you tell me the story, the sooner we can both go back to sleep.”

For a moment I felt guilty for waking him, but not guilty enough to leave him alone. “It’s Sevastian. After the tournament, I went after him to... cheer him up, I suppose? But he shut me down and said all kinds of cruel things. And he was cold to me at the party, too. But then...” I trailed off, remembering what Lyris said. He claimed he didn’t know where Sevastian went at night. But they were friends, and Lyris travelled the Wilds to sing forbidden songs when he was in the mood. “We went to the Wilds,” I said finally, keeping it vague. “I wasn’t dressed as a princess, and he wasn’t dressed as a prince. We rode through the forest and had drinks at my old tavern and played cards, and he helped me cook.”

“Cook,” Lyris said. “He _helped_ you _cook_.” He made a point of shivering in disgust, and I swatted his arm. I only just realised we were lying in his bed, with him only wearing something that could barely be described as an item of clothing. Maybe he was too tired to comment on it now, but I knew he would never let me live this down.

I’d cross that bridge when I got to it.

“ _Yes_ , he did. We were having fun! Then he went ahead and told me I should stay in the Wilds, because I was happier there.” I frowned and turned to lie on my back, staring at Lyris’s fancy ceiling. “I told him I was happy because he wasn’t being his usual cold-hearted self, and that I wasn’t leaving Altadellys until I found answers about my parents. Then we got caught in a blizzard, and I kind of passed out. I woke up in his bed--”

“ _April_ ,” Lyris said, and his voice didn’t sound sleepy anymore. “You’re telling me you came to my bed straight from Sevastian’s? Oh, you naughty girl. I didn’t know you had it in you!”

By the middle of the second sentence, I had grabbed his pillow and was beating him with it, but he finished speaking even as his last words trailed off into laughter.

“You’re awful!” I said, but I didn’t mean it. Other than Sevastian, Lyris was the only other person I could rely on here. Piama had gotten nicer to me since I saved her at Sevastian‘s party, but she was still condescending about my origins, and very focused on her own status and marriage prospects. I was surprised she hadn’t told me to stay away from Sevastian, too. For my _reputation_. “Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?”

“Are you going to give me all the juicy details?”

I hit him with the pillow again. “Nothing like that happened.” Nothing, except me watching Sevastian undress, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. He must have read it from my blush though, because he was making that _tsk-tsk_ noise with a shake of his head. “Things were still fine, at first. We were joking around... Then I made a joke about having half of Tristan’s things if we got married, and he got all weird.”

“Let me repeat that,” Lyris said, and he went on before I could scold him for interrupting him again. “He got weird when you reminded him that _you are engaged to another man_.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again when the implication sank in. Lyris was saying Sevastian was _jealous_ ? But I _told_ him I didn’t want to marry Tristan! “That’s not the point,” I said, determined not to blush even more. “The worst part was that when I pushed him to find out what the problem was, he said my first mistake was thinking I could trust him.” I sighed. “I know what you’re saying. But he doesn’t get to be jealous when he makes fun of me for liking him every second day!”

I put the pillow down and dropped my head on it, too.

“He said that if I want to marry someone weak like Tristan who--” _whimpers when someone cuts his buttons off_ “--would soil himself if you pulled a knife on him, then I could be his guest. But I don’t want to marry Tristan.”

“You would be the first Spring Princess who wouldn’t,” Lyris said, and I rolled my eyes.

“Listen,” I said, and took a deep breath before going on. This was taking a risk. “I barely know Sevastian. I’m not going to confess my undying love. And I don’t want to marry _anyone_. But if being a Princess means I have to marry a Prince, then… I’d rather pick someone I actually like.”

“You want to marry Sevastian?” Lyris asked in a hiss.

“I said I don’t want to marry anyone!” I protested. “But if the only way to get out of marrying Tristan is to marry someone else, then… I doubt Piama would say yes.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Lyris said with a sigh. “Not because she doesn’t like you, but because nobody here picks their marriage based on who they like.”

 _Love is for children and fools_ , Xenia said. “I never said I’m not a fool,” I said.

Lyris was kind enough not to grace that with an answer. “I’ll be frank with you, April. And this is something even a newcomer like you should know by now. Marrying Sevastian is political suicide, and potentially a literal one.” I flinched, but he went on. “If you were crazily in love with him and telling me that you will die if you can’t have him - then maybe, _maybe_ I’d tell you to go for it. Or maybe I’d tell you to push your head under cold water until you get it out. But that’s the only situation where you’d get anything out of marrying him.”

“I’d get not marrying Tristan out of it,” I said, desperately. How was it that I wasn’t serious about marrying Sevastian, and yet Lyris telling me what a bad idea it was still hurt? “Isn’t that enough?”

Lyris sighed again, and reached out to pat my hand. “There, there,” he said. “My foolish little bird. I almost wish I didn’t have to tell you to change. But if you want to survive here, you’ll have to.”

I didn’t like that idea.

“I just want to know who my parents are,” I said. “If they confirmed that I belonged to Spring, there must be some kind of records, or proof, or…”

This time, Lyris yawned. I wasn’t talking about Sevastian anymore, and I had the feeling I was losing his interest. “If I promise to help you look, will you get out of my room and let me sleep?”

I laughed. “I’ll take you up on that.”

\--

When I woke the next morning (or rather, a few hours later, since my “guy troubles” kept me up half the night) there was somebody in my room.

“Humour me for a moment,” Sevastian said, standing next to my bed while I squeaked and pulled the cover up to my neck. “Where would you place Piama in position to yourself, in the hierarchy of the court?”

I glared at him. After how we left things last night, he was in my room without permission... doing what? Testing me on politics? “Get the hell out,” I said.

“Humour me,” he said, and there was a note of desperation in his voice. If I pushed him to find out why, he would leave. I knew this as I knew my own name.

I gave in. “Spring won the Tournament, so we are on top. Within Spring...” I thought back to the first of Sevastian’s parties I attended. “When Piama took me to your party, they nearly shut the door in her face, and she needed to use me to get in. That would suggest that I’m higher than her. But I’m a Wildergirl with pointy ears - the only reason I’m higher is because I’m a curiosity.” I hated those words, but I was certain it was how the others viewed me.

"Anything else?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I think we are both at the bottom of the Spring hierarchy, but... at the moment, even that is above the other Seasons, just because we won? It’s strange.” 

Sevastian hummed. “A fairly accurate answer. And you recognise that the positions can change easily, and not only through the Tournament. That shows some promise.” He leant in closer, and I pulled the cover even higher. “Next question. Where do you place Tristan?”

I tried to find the questions he wasn’t asking, the ones that would tell me where this was going. “Spring is on top of the wheel now, but if Spring and Summer were equal... Tristan is the son of the High Prince, so he’s certainly higher than Piama.” I paused. “And... he’s certainly higher than me.” I was starting to have an ill feeling.

“And?” Sevastian prompted.

“And... everyone here wants to get ahead.” I remembered that from my conversation with Lyris, all too well. “For Tristan, that would mean marrying someone on his own level, or ideally above. What is his family getting out of him marrying a low-rank Spring princess with unknown parents? Why would they want this match?”

He nodded. “Why?”

I racked my brain trying to figure it out. “It could be some kind of punishment, but I didn’t really get that feeling. So maybe...” I frowned. “I was confirmed to belong to Spring, but nobody told me who my parents are. Maybe they’re...” My voice broke. “Maybe they’re dead, or maybe... maybe they just don’t want to claim me publicly.” _They abandoned me for a reason, after all_. The realisation hit me. “Maybe Tristan’s family knows who my family is, and they know that if my parents ever _do_ claim me, that would put me above Tristan.” I turned to stare at Sevastian with wide eyes. "That would mean my parents have to be important Spring nobles. I barely even know important Spring nobles!”

Sevastian nodded again, and he seemed... satisfied? Relieved? I wasn’t either of those things. 

“Stop playing games with me!” I snapped. “What is the answer?”

He sighed, and for a moment his hand moved like he was going to reach out for me, but he pulled it back. “I don’t know the answer,” he asked. “If I did, I would tell you.”

I pulled away. “Then what was this good for?” 

“You have the question now. How are you supposed to find the answer if you don’t know what the question is?”

“I already knew the question!” I was shouting now. “You don’t think I’ve ever asked myself who my parents are? You don’t think I’ve been asking--”

“That’s not the question,” he said firmly, and this time he grabbed my hand to calm me, or just shut me up. “The question you need is, _why does Tristan’s family want us to marry_? The answer is not guaranteed to lead to your parents, but it is likely. And even if it doesn’t, it can save your life in here.” He let go of my hand. “I don’t know the answer. But the fact that you found the question is good. It means that you know when things don’t add up, and that means you just _might_ be able to stay alive here.”

I scoffed. I was about to snap at him again, but I held it back because I realised what he was doing. He was trying to prove to himself that he didn’t need to convince me to run home. Him and Lyris were both trying to help me stay alive here.

I could work with that. But first I’d work with Lyris, and look at some family records.


End file.
